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Multiparticle Systems: Momentum Space Description

In: Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

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  • Peter Woit

    (Columbia University, Department of Mathematics)

Abstract

In chapter 9 , we saw how to use symmetric or antisymmetric tensor products to describe a fixed number of identical quantum systems (for instance, free particles). From very early on in the history of quantum mechanics, it became clear that at least certain kinds of quantum particles, photons, required a formalism that could describe arbitrary numbers of particles, as well as phenomena involving their creation and annihilation. This could be accomplished by thinking of photons as quantized excitations of a classical electromagnetic field. In our modern understanding of fundamental physics, all elementary particles, not just photons, are best described in this way, by quantum theories of fields. For free particles, the necessary theory can be understood as the quantum theory of the harmonic oscillator, but with an infinite number of degrees of freedom, one for each possible value of the momentum (or, Fourier transforming, each possible value of the position).

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Woit, 2017. "Multiparticle Systems: Momentum Space Description," Springer Books, in: Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations, chapter 0, pages 447-463, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-64612-1_36
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-64612-1_36
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